My brother and I are playing Midway again after not playing it for probably 20 years. We're using all of the Tournament rules. In the process of playing through the game we have been stumped by a couple of rules questions. I have looked through the rules, the appendix of Q&A's, the Q&A's from many past General magazines, and I am still not quite sure on these questions. They revolve largely around what does one player need to reveal to the other player.

Scenario 1: US player sends fighters over a US task force to help defend it against an IJN attack. Does the US player need to reveal that part of the CAP defense came from Midway?

Scenario 2: Same as scenario 1, except that there is no IJN attack. Does the US player need to tell the IJN player that X number of fighters flew to this zone and returned to Midway?

Scenario 3: If either player launches an attack against a zone that turns out to be vacant, does he need to reveal where the aircraft came from and returned to?

Scenario 4: Same scenario as Scenario 3 except that the home carrier of the aircraft launched against the vacant zone is sunk during the turn and the aircraft return to another carrier or Midway? What needs to be reported to the other player?

The rules say that after an "attack" the player must disclose the origination and final destination of the attacking players. The language in the Tournament rules about fighters makes it sound like you are assigning them vs. launching an attack. So the question is whether fighter movements are "attacks" and whether a failed attack is an "attack".

Re-reading some of the Series Replays of Midway in old Generals it is sort of implied that all aircraft launches, except transfers between carriers/bases.

And, since the rules do state that players are supposed to exchange operations sheets, that would lean towards revealing all moves... but then wouldn't the transfers be on the operations sheets and the rules specifically state that these don't need to be revealed.

Scenario 5: After being attacked by the IJN, the US player decides to retreat his forces off the map. Does he need to tell the IJN player when this has happened?

The rules are pretty silent on this last one. Whether the IJN knows that the US player has retreated or not could have huge implications on the later stages of the game.

I'd appreciate if anyone could point me to a more definitive Q&A on these, or if you'd share how you have handled these situations in your playing of the game.

I think the intent of the reveal-your-orders rule is just to keep everybody honest or mistake-free, when there is no other way to manage this.I always prefer to trust my opponent and never bothered with sharing orders, especially since, as you mentioned, some things don't need to be revealed. Given that the whole campaign was essentially conducted in the dark, I try to play it that way as closely as possible.So in #1, I'd say no.In #2, definitely no.In #3, definitely no.In #4, I'd say nothing.In #5, no.

The less you know about your opponent, the more engaging this game is. I'd suggest you try to keep the exchange of info as meagre as possible.